Dolphus thanked his knees for not giving out on him as Mako suddenly appeared from behind, looking like the disheveled wreck he was, teeth flashing out from beneath his far too expensive cloak.
Raising his thin hand for a moment, he slowly gestured to Mako to back down, although whether or not he actually listened was less a concern. His remonstrance had provided an opportunity that Dolphus’s political acumen could not avoid capitalizing on.
“Hungry dogs.” His eyes never left the inspector.
The conversation would’ve progressed into the expected back-and-forth between Dolphus and the lead inspector, worsening their opinions of each other until they got tired of the ordeal and moved the proceedings along, until with a massive THUD the entire pier trembled. After popping into the air from what he had convinced himself was the force of the impact and not, as it truly was, his weak knees refusing to keep him planted, Dolphus looked towards the source of the impact with one hand clutched over his heart and a mix of confusion and offense on his features, the mask having fully dropped.
It was Ari.
Of course it was Ari.
His face immediately relapsed into his typical mask, paying it no heed as it climbed back up his features. Part of the ease by which it traveled was due to his immense disappointment at the expected behavior of the last Wohlford, whose antics he really should have anticipated and accounted for.
The other factor… Well, Ari’s big, dumb, muscular hands still held his heart in them.
Having completely picked himself back up from his undignified expression of involuntary reaction, Dolphus leaned towards the inspector with a subtle raising of his eyebrows. “Hungry.”